“We still got a fight on our hands, and we’re starting to figure out how to move forward,” said Jim Motsko, the founder and director of the White Marlin Open after the meeting at the Marlin Club in West Ocean City.
A month ago, the National Aquarium launched a petition to establish the 28-mile long underwater rift as its first Urban National Marine Sanctuary. The designation would help protect the rare deep-sea coral and ecosystem in the Baltimore Canyon by restricting offshore exploration for minerals, oil and gas.
Since the canyon is one of the cornerstones of Ocean City’s fishing industry and, hence, its tourism market, sports fishing advocates have been pushing back on the designation. That culminated in a two-hour forum last week.
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1 comment:
Joe,
Recreational Fishing Alliance Executive Director Jim Donofrio is as much to blame for this as anyone. Donofrio was making nice with many of these organizations in the attempts to shut down much of the Atlantic to commercial fishing and now the lack of commercial fisherman has led to a reduction in those on the commercial side who are available to fight this!
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